My Missing Half
by Natimus Prime
Summary: It's been a year since I left Hokkaido. Since I left behind friends, home, and half of my soul. I look in the mirror and see her face, but despite a fake smile, I still feel the pain of other half, unmourned and unknown by all. All but me. -Continuation-
1. The Dream

Author's Forward: This is a continuation. If you have never heard of Figure 17, or never saw the ending, then you should probably stop reading right here and forget about this for now. Then, go out and purchase the Figure 17 anime, settle in with your significant other, and watch it. You won't regret it. 

.o0O0o.

.o0O0o.

.o0O0o.

.o0O0o.

A year has passed since that time in Hokkaido. I left behind so much there. I left my friends, people who had come to mean so much to me even though we were only together for a little while. I left my home, that little house by the farm where so many fun things happened. I left the wonderful forest we lived in, and all the sights and sounds of being with nature. My first crush, who never let us feel sorry for him even though his illness finally took him from us. Even the ranch dog, who always loved to play with me.

But I can go back and see most of them any time. Even the crush I cared for at least has a grave to visit. But I left something even more precious behind. Only two others even remember, and they've gone far, far away. I won't see them again either, and I'll always miss them, but they left me the most important thing of all. They could have taken it from me, but at least I'll always remember that even though they shouldn't have, they gave me the choice. They let me keep my most precious thing.

No one else can remember. Even my father has forgotten, thanks to those two. I'm glad, in a way, because that means that Otousan can be happy, instead of sad like me. There's no pictures, no papers, no real proof that it ever happened. Nothing but my memories of my other half.

I can look in the mirror and try to smile, to see her again, but my smile is so fake, so unlike hers. She was my everything, and I was hers, but now she's gone. When we were together, we could do anything. We could fight any battle, stop any foe, and we often did. If there were anyone left to remember that day, we would have been heroes.

She was my shining light, and I was her soaring wings. My beloved is gone as though she never was. I cannot even build a marker for her, because no one else would understand. To them, she is a figment of my imagination. And so I press on, doing my best to be happy, because she would have wanted it for me. The worst pain she ever felt, she once said, was when I was sad.

I have just one thing to remember her. It's nothing special to anyone else, just a pair of mismatched mittens. I left one of hers and one of mine back at our favorite tree the day I left, so that a part of each of us would always be there. The others I keep with me, so I can have a bit of her too.

I look out from our apartment in Tokyo. Otousan moved to Hokkaido so he could learn to be a baker from a friend we met while on vacation there. At first, I was sad to leave my friends, and frightened at all the new things, but now I'm glad we went there. When we came back to Tokyo, Otousan started his own shop, just like the one he worked at back there. But she was already gone by then, and Otousan couldn't remember her anymore, so at least he was happy.

I miss her so much, the other half of my soul. Never to be mourned, never to be remembered, not by anyone at all.

Except, she might not be gone forever...

Those far-off travelers always said she was special, unlike anything they'd ever seen before. So maybe, just maybe, she'll come back to me someday.

So once again, I settle into my bed, close my eyes, and dream of what could be.

.o0O0o.

Author's Notes:

I felt the ending of the series, though excellently written and very moving, was not really the sort of happy ending I like to see in my anime. I jotted down most of this first part immediately after watching, almost as a stream-of-consciousness, and two days later--after thinking about what I wanted to do with it, and the best way to manage it within the confines of the series and Japanese culture--I polished up a few lines and prepared to write the rest. I'll have to ask my reader base to forgive me for the upcoming part 2, as I am going to start typing it out as soon as this bit gets posted (I felt this was a good place to end off a prologue just in case I never get the next part the way I want). It's currently 8:40am on a Monday, and I got up a 6:10am to come in to work to finish up a software release before the rest of the office gets here. So assuming part 2 gets finished today, it might be rather raw. My usual beta has yet to watch this series, so in the interest of getting this posted, it will not be beta'd except by spell-check. I like to think I learned enough about writing from my most excellent teachers that I don't make the common mistakes anymore, and anything I do screw up is usually something only an English major will catch.


	2. The Return

The Return

It's the first time I've gone back to Hokkaido since we left a year ago. Otousan's shop is a branch of the original Ibaraki where he learned his trade. Shin-ojisan taught him everything, and Otousan finally learned enough that Shin-ojisan decided he should start up his own place. The ranch was doing well enough to support Otousan's new store until it was ready to stand on its own, but Otousan insisted that he be considered just a branch of their main shop. That way, he said, people on vacation in the area would make sure to stop in and see them. So every other month, he leaves the shop in the care of his apprentices for a weekend and rides the train north to meet with Shin-ojisan and the rest of the family. He told me once that they spend a lot of time talking about new ideas for things to make and sell, doing experiments in new types of bread or new shapes.

I decided to never go with him.

Going back would mean seeing all those people I had to leave behind. It would be nice to see them all again, to play with my old friends for an afternoon, but I know I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about Her. She should be there too, laughing and playing with us like she used to. But no one remembers my shining light, and they wouldn't understand why I wasn't completely happy to see them all again. So instead, I write them letters, so they won't be able to see the tears in my eyes when something reminds me of Her. But yesterday, Otousan said he was going north, and I looked at the calendar. Soon it would be the anniversary of that day.

The day I was left alone again.

I found myself saying that I wanted to come this time. It would be a Saturday, I said, and we only had half our classes, so my elementary school would let us out in time to catch the train and arrive before dark. And on Sunday, there would be no school, so I could see everyone if I wanted to. Otousan just smiled, and said that it would be nice for them to see me again. Shin-san and Sakura-san had both asked after me during his last visit.

So after class, we got aboard the train with just a pair of overnight bags--a few changes of clothes to see us through the weekend. It would have been faster to fly, but the plane tickets are expensive, too expensive for a trip that Otousan makes so often. As it was, I would miss school on Monday, but Sensei understood why we were going when we did, especially when I mentioned the anniversary.

Sensei thought I meant it was the anniversary of the day I left, and I knew better than to tell him the truth.

Right now, our train has arrived at the station. I've spent the whole ride steeling myself for what is to come, burying my pain so that I can smile at everyone. Looking out over the land as we rode past it helped, somehow. But now Otousan is calling for me. He has our bags, and we need to catch a bus to get the rest of the way to the ranch. We never did get a car when we lived here, and we live above the shop in Tokyo, so there was no need for one there either.

My friends the travelers from far away had their own cars. When you have to do what we did, you need to be able to get to places the busses don't go. Sometimes we had to go off the main roads to find what we were looking for, so it was difficult. And we didn't have flying motorcycles back at the beginning.

I smile at the thought, briefly. Invisible flying motorcycles made it a lot easier to get around, especially when we had to sneak out of the house at night.

.o0O0o.

The bus ride helps me finish clearing my head. A lot of the roads are still familiar to me. I shouldn't be so surprised, it's only been a year, but I find it somewhat reassuring. If I can remember something trivial like this, then I won't forget about the mirror of my soul for a long, long time. That, more than anything, strengthens my resolve.

By the time we get to the ranch, it is late afternoon. The winter night comes early this far north, but when the bus pulls away from the stop, driving off into the twilight, Shin-ojisan is there, waiting for us with the ranch's pickup truck. Otousan waves a greeting, calling out to him, and they shake hands, smiling. Then they look at me, and I muster up a smile. It's shaky, but hopefully they will think it is just my shyness. I bow politely and say, "Konbanwa, Shin-ojisan." He just smiles and laughs, then helps Otousan put the bags in the bed of the old truck. We rumble off down the road, Otousan and Shin-ojisan already talking about what they've been doing since they last met. I say quiet, letting their voices soothe me into a half-sleep.

Before I realize it, we've arrived. Otousan tells me that we're staying in our old house for the night, since the ranch uses it for guests. He usually doesn't put them to the trouble, and takes a mat or the couch in the main house, but when they heard I was coming with him they got everything set up for us. I'm not sure I'm ready to stay in my old room, especially without the other bed beside me.

Sakura-san walks in from the kitchen. The older girl changed a lot in the almost-two years since we first met. She smiles more, and she doesn't seem to mind working around the house. She's still a teenager by the way she dresses--clothes that show her off, even when nobody's looking--but she used to be so angry all the time, really moody and quiet. I can still remember when her mother got sick and they had to bribe Sakura with a trip to a concert to get her to help out around the ranch. When she finally understood just how much work it was to keep things running, I think she realized how selfish she'd been. Either way, she's smiling when she greets me, and tells us all that dinner is ready.

During dinner, everyone is asking me about my classes, my new friends, even the weather in Tokyo. I do my best to keep up, and talking about the present helps me ignore the reminders of the person who is missing from the scene. As I talk, I realize that even if their memories of her are gone, they still subconsciously left room for her at the table. Does that mean that the memory blocks are wearing away, or is it a sign that the other half of my heart might come back?

I force myself not to think about it. I smile at a joke, and talk about trivial things. Eventually, dinner is eaten, and Otousan notices my eyes drooping. He makes our excuses, and we go back to the other house. I try not to look around the little room I used to share with my twin. It's so bare now. Most of the furniture came back with us to Tokyo, just as it had followed us here when we'd arrived the first time. The little bed is the spare we left behind. Otousan was pretty confused about it at first, wondering why we had a second bed for me, but it stayed behind for when others came to visit.

I can remember other nights, nights where the distance from one bed to another was too far, and we both slept in that little bed with the tube-metal frame. I was so afraid then, afraid of losing her. I keep my face frozen, a mask to hide the sorrow I feel at realizing that those fears had eventually come true, and now I had to spend the night in the place where I felt them most strongly. Otousan must be able to tell I am not feeling well, even if he can't understand what I'm really feeling, or why. He puts a gentle hand on my shoulder, and says he doesn't like to stay here either, because the memories always make him feel nostalgic, and a little sad. Then he smiles, to make a joke, and says that I mustn't tell Shin-ojisan about that, or he'd never hear the end of it. I smile at that funny thought, and--seeing my cheer--Otousan puts my bag down on the floor and tells me to go to sleep, because I'll want to get up early to spend time with everyone.

.o0O0o.

The exhaustion of the long day was the only thing that let me sleep that night. My only consolation was that there were no dreams. Sometimes, the dreams are of better times, when she and I were together. Sometimes, after a really bad day, I have nightmares of the day she left. Those cruel, inhuman monsters that haunted our lives since the day we met are finally gone, but she disappeared on the very same day.

I have never even considered thinking the victory to be worth the cost I paid. And my beloved, her price was far, far higher.

But the world still turns, and that is enough, most days. It isn't fair, and it still hurts, but knowing that our sacrifice was not in vain lets me keep moving forward. One of the pamphlets we read about grieving after Sho-kun died said that time will help distance me from the pain, that the happy memories will block out the bad ones. Time hasn't helped yet, but maybe what I plan to do today will.

Today, I'm going to her grave.

There is no body, of course. She just vanished, as though she had never been, and it was only because I had put her mittens in my pockets that I had that much left of her. Our clothes were all shared, since we were the same size, but the few things that were absolutely 'hers' went away with her. Her boots, her jacket, even the tie that she wore in her hair is gone.

I tried putting my hair up once, to try and see her face in the mirror more clearly. I couldn't bear to look.

Otousan and I went to the main house for an early breakfast, then I told him that there was a place I wanted to make sure I visited, out in the woods. I would go see my friends at the school later, since it was a Sunday and most of them would be skating on the ice rink they made in the playground. He told me to be careful, because even if I was familiar with the woods I could still get lost or hurt. I gave him a half-smile, and told him that I'd take Tenmaru with me on my walk. The ranch dog was getting on in years now, he was at least nine, but he was smart, loyal, and he absolutely loved playing outdoors.

The fact that he's probably the only one who still remembered my twin just makes it better. It just feels right to have him come.

I put on my coat, my boots, and my hat and scarf. In the pockets are two mittens, one pink and one red. I pull on each one, and I can feel a prickling in my eyes. Being back here, so close to all those memories, is making it harder to keep from crying. I force myself to get out the door before someone notices, but I remember to grab a small backpack with winter supplies, something we always did when the weather might turn bad. The weather forecast said it might snow, and I don't want to freeze if I get lost. Tenmaru follows along beside me as I walk down a familiar trail. I won't cry now, because she would have said something to cheer me up. I manage a small, wan smile as Tenmaru runs ahead. He knows where I plan to go, and his big doggy body breaks through the snow for me. There's just enough to make walking difficult for my short legs, but not so much that I have to worry about falling over. Briefly, I wish I had brought a shovel.

.o0O0o.

The walk isn't really all that long, but I must have been lost in my thoughts, because all of a sudden, we're there. Tenmaru walks around our destination for a bit, then wanders off to chase something he smells. At least, I think he smelled something. I'm glad to be alone for this, though. Just like going to visit any other memorial, it's best done quietly. Speaking of which, I suddenly realize I have a lot to say, and crouching long enough to say it all is going to give me cramps.

Nearby there is an evergreen whose branches are bare of snow. One bough has broken recently under the weight of its load, but hasn't fallen all the way to the ground yet. It's needles are still green, and I tromp over to grab it. I break off part of it for later, and use the rest like a broom to sweep away a clear spot at the base of an old birch tree. I can't get all the snow away, but I'm down to the hard-packed stuff now. Laying the snow-covered branches in the spot I've cleared, I take the other part, still dry, and put it over the wet needles. The drier pine will keep my pants from getting too wet while I kneel.

This old tree was one of the first things I found after we moved to Hokkaido. When I was lonely, I came out here, and felt drawn to it. I confessed my fears to it, I told it my doubts, I let it listen to my problems and let it draw away all those things so that I could go on with the day. My 'worry tree' she called it once, the place where I could let everything go. I left the other pair of our mittens here at its base when we left.

It felt right that this place should be my memorial to her.

There is no sign of the mittens, of course. Animals might have taken them, or they fell apart in the rain and snow, but this was where I had wanted to remember her. The tree had seen us often enough, it felt reassuring to know that it would be able to listen while I spoke to my beloved, my shining light, my everything. I kneel, clapping my hands twice just like I would at a temple.

Stumbling at first, I told her about going back to Tokyo without her. Of course, no one else thought it was unusual, but I knew I was leaving behind something very precious to me. But we settled into the small apartment over the bakery Otousan was going to run. It was nice, because the whole place smelled like fresh bread all the time, and the scent was always soothing for me, the daughter of a baker. The sounds of the people below, always happy, seemed to fill the space above as well, and it kept the worst of the melancholy away. And whenever I needed that comfort, I could just go down and sit with Otousan and let my sorrow drain away. Never mind that he thought I just missed my friends from Hokkaido, it still helped me.

At school, I was too busy to dwell on my loss. It wasn't long after we returned to the main island that I became a fifth-grader. We lived in a different part of Tokyo than we had before, because of the bakery, so I went to a different school. That helped too, because none of these people expected me to be a certain way. Remembering how outgoing my other half was, I tried to do that too. When I realized how much less scary all these new people were when I wasn't making myself hard to talk to, I wondered why I had been so withdrawn after we moved to Hokkaido in the first place. Maybe it was because those kids thought that a city girl like me thought I was too good to talk to country ruffians, when all I really wanted was for them to stop staring at me like I was a bug under glass.

But the friends I made at my new school weren't like the friends I made out here. The most of the kids here were genuinely friendly once we got to know each other, and the ones who weren't were snobs to everybody, so I wasn't any different. In Tokyo, the girls were all concerned about getting the most stylish clothes, or the best hair, or other silly things. The boys were just as bad, obsessing over their sports or the latest gadgets. The richer kids were the most popular, even when they were mean, self-centered brats. Otousan's bakery is doing good business, but we aren't rich. Most of the money goes back into the business, to get better ovens, or special ingredients, or pay the other bakers Otousan is hiring to handle the work. Because we're in the middle of a city, we get a lot more business than the store out here at the ranch, except during tourist season.

The hardest part about all of it is knowing that there should be someone else in our little apartment, laughing and smiling. Okaasan died a while ago, because something went wrong when I was born and it made her sick, but whenever I ask Otousan about the hows and whys, he tells me that it's very technical and I wouldn't really understand until I'm older. But we've already said our goodbyes to her. Okaasan had a memorial service, and her name is on the memorial stone, so I can go and speak to her whenever I need to. I'm sure she would want me to be happy now, even though she can't share it with me.

Okaasan would have loved to have met her. Otousan might have been fooled with the fancy memory tricks DD and Orudina could do with their alien technology, but Okaasan wouldn't have cared. Having a second daughter would have made her happy enough not to care that she only gave birth to one girl. Seeing how much we cared for each other, how we drew so much strength from being together, would have made her happier than anything in the whole world.

I can feel the tears falling now, hot streaks of wetness against my chilly face. They cool as they fall, until they fall to the ground to join the snow around me. Oh, I wish you were still with me, my shining light! I never realized how much I needed someone like you until you came to me, that fateful night when we first met each other. I can still feel the terror of fighting that alien monster, watching it hurt DD. But more than that, I remember you telling me to be calm, that you would protect me, that you would never let me be hurt.

That we could beat it.

That it was me, my power, my strength, that would defeat something strong enough to nearly kill a grown man.

And later, when we used that bond between us to save the whole world from becoming a dead, lifeless lump of rock, you told me you were so happy to have met me.

Why?! Why did you have to go away?! You promised me that we would be together forever and ever! That nothing would take you from me! Even if we weren't really sisters, even if you weren't even really human, we were twins in all the ways that mattered. You said that I was your everything, you most precious person, and that you would always be there to protect me, no matter what. But you couldn't protect me from losing you! And it hurts! It hurts so much, I want to die! At least then, we could be together. Even if it's only for a moment, I want to see you again, to tell you the one thing I could never tell you when you were awake to hear me. You did so much, worked so hard to keep me safe, even when it meant risking everything and everyone. And at the end of it all, when you were so hurt you could barely move, I knew it was my turn to protect you.

You, the Shining Light to my Soaring Wings.

My Sister.

My Twin.

My Most Precious Person.

My Everything.

My Hikaru.

.o0O0o.

The old birch had been in this same place, more or less, since time out of mind. It sprouted, grew, died, and was reborn anew, over and over, because that was what trees do when they are on ground sacred to the spirits of a place. In the West, some who still studied the old ways would have called it a dryad, and others would have called it an angel, but the people of its land had their own names, and all the names meant much the same thing. It was one of the First, home to one of the minor tree kami that saw to the growth and care of the forests. It had watched over this lonely little human girl when she had first come to these woods, for though it was a very minor thing in the rankings of the divine creatures, it was still possessed of rudimentary intelligence, and plenty of empathy. It listened to the human child, and knew that she derived comfort from being near it.

When the human had brought the one who wore the guise of a human, but was of the earth, it had been unable to understand. There had been nothing like this being in all its memory, and it had no word for what the creature was. But as the two had come, and told it their dreams and their doubts, their joys and their sorrows, it had understood what the human-who-was-earth meant to the human, and it had later understood the nature of the human's sorrow when the human-who-was-earth had not returned with it. As kami are ranked, this tree was one of the lowest of the low, but it was one of the oldest on the island. It had grown wiser over its millennia of existence, and it had understood the root of the problem, if not the specifics: the human girl missed the one-who-was-of-earth-but-walked-like-a-human.

Low ranked it might be, but it was still an ancient kami, and it still had power. Especially at this, the end of its growing cycle.

The birch tree kami had spoken to the others of Hokkaido, and they had gathered the scattered fragments of the silver-shining-human, as the crows who did the work called the strange creature. Many pieces were barely larger than dust, but all of them had fallen here. The Island knew that none had left its borders, and It knew, with the deep intelligence of the primal land that composed it, that the silver-one had saved it when it was being torn apart by an evil from beyond its borders. The silver-one deserved to be remembered and rewarded, but without knowledge of what it was, the Island could only gather it together. There were rules to be followed, after all, even for the kami. They could ready the body, but the spirit would have to come of its own accord. Without that, all they could do was wait and be ready.

The silver-one was not really alive, but not dead either. As more of its body gathered in one place, it began pulling together of its own accord. The kami did not know, but the silver-one had been designed to heal itself, and it was only the distance of its parts that prevented it. The essence of that self had been scattered, but slowly, as more and more of it joined together, it began to call back pieces of itself all on its own.

When the human who had walked with the silver-one returned to the tree the first time, it was still gathering, so the time was not right. The human had left two things at the tree's base, and then gone away. The kami could feel the sadness in the human, so it had kept those things safe as best it could while it worked its limited intellect around the problem. But now, the kami was ready, and the silver-one had been gathered. And the human had gained the attention of more than the local spirits when she had clapped her hands twice in the traditional greeting before prayer. The one-who-was-of-earth-but-walked-like-a-human had heard as well, in its half-aware, near-spirit state. The time was right, and the tree kami asked the blessing of the Kami of all Kami, that it would do It's will.

And what better use for its stored power could there be than to aid the ones who had saved it and the entire Island?

Deep, ancient warmth suffused its wood and bark, causing the snow around it to sublime and boil away.

There was a blinding flash of unseen light from the noon sun.

There was thunder without sound.

And when the shockwave dissipated, there was a tumultuous roar, as though someone had thrown wide the floodgates of a great river.

.o0O0o.

I sit up, my ears ringing. What was that? My vision is clearing now, but I'm still seeing spots. I went rolling backward quite a ways, I think, when whatever it was exploded. And the noise! Kami, what if we really did miss one of those-

I cut off that thought. There is no way we didn't get all of them, and if we had missed one of them, we'd be dead already. Blinking to clear my eyes, I look around to see what might have happened. Tenmaru is barking, I can just barely hear him over the ringing in my ears. Gah, my head hurts! I think I hit a rock turning my tumble. I glance over at the tree...

Kami-sama! It's like it was struck by a bolt of lightning! There is a massive crack running straight down the middle, exposing the steaming hot wood within. Is that what happened? I check with my hands to see if I'm bleeding anywhere. I might not feel a splinter if it hit me in the right places. My mittens come away clean, and I don't have any bruises on my head. But if I didn't hit a rock, why do I hurt so much? It's like a headache but all over.

Lightly shaking my head, my neck seems to be fine, if a bit sore. My arms and legs seem fine, but I am covered in snow. I stand up, brushing of my jacket. Tenmaru is still barking, and I can hear better now. He sounds close. It takes me a moment to get my bearings, I'm still dizzy from my tumble over the ground. Oh, there he is, at the base of the tree. I couldn't see it before, my knees were in the w-

Tenmaru isn't alone.

I rub frantically at my eyes, certain that I'm seeing things but praying that I'm not. When I look again, it's still there. A mop of brown, the rest pale, but not quite white. The only other scraps of color are a pink and red pile in front of something that should not exist, but does. Tenmaru stops barking and begins licking instead, like he used to do when I fell asleep while watching clouds.

My knees are shaking. I want to move, to do something, anything, but I'm so afraid that if I make even the slightest sound, I'll wake up and find out this is all a horrible dream, a nightmare to torture me with what I can't have. My vision is getting cloudy again, but this time it's the unshed tears in my eyes. Squeezing them shut tight, I remember her words: be strong, be brave! It takes every once of my will to take that first step. I open my eyes again.

Nothing has changed. It's not a dream!

I stumble forward, tripping awkwardly over my own feet in my hurry. It's absolutely impossible, and yet there it is! I slide to a halt, tears streaming down my face. I can't help but smile through my tears as I look down. Carefully, suddenly afraid again, I kneel down, and put on small, mitten covered hand under the mop of brown hair. Gently, oh-so gently, I lift up, so that I can see for certain.

It's like staring into a mirror.

My breath catches in my throat as the eyes slowly flutter half-open. Brown eyes stare into brown eyes, and I see her lips part. For a moment, nothing comes out but puffs of air, turning white in the cold. Then, those beautiful brown eyes widen, and I cry even harder when I see recognition in her gaze. Tenmaru is quiet now, lying down next to her on her bed of pine needles. I'm doing my best to smile, and I'm so happy I don't know why it's so hard to make my face the way I want it. I remember to breathe, and I whisper, "Hello, Hikaru-chan."

The heart of my heart, the other half of my soul, the mirror of my form, the shining light to my soaring wings, smiles back at me. Her own eyes shimmer with tears, and one of them trails down her cheek as she replies. It's like an angel has come down from heaven to speak to me when I hear those three words.

"Hello, Tsubasa-chan."

Suddenly, we're hugging each other tightly, crying and sobbing, and I never want this moment to end. I never want to have to let her go! Through my sobs, I say, "I thought I had lost you forever!"

She squeezes me even tighter, and says, with a little laugh, "I promised, didn't I?"

I gently pull away, so I can see her face again. Just knowing that I'm not looking into a mirror anymore, that this is real, is enough to make my heart sing with joy! I'm not crying as much anymore, just stray leftover tears. "I missed you so much, Hikaru-chan."

She smiles sadly. "I'm sorry I left you alone, Tsubasa-chan. I didn't want to go, but I just couldn't-"

I put a finger over her lips to silence her. "You came back, that's what matters." In my mind, I'm still worried she'll disappear in the next instant, so I make a decision. I take a deep breath. "I never got the chance to tell you, before, so I'll tell you now."

She looks so cute when she's confused! "Tell me what, Tsubasa-chan?"

"Once, when I was drowning in my own grief, you said I was your everything, your most important person. I didn't realize it until the end, but I feel the same. You're the other half of me, the missing piece of my soul, my shining light. My most precious person." I sniffle. "My everything."

Hikaru's eyes go really wide, then she smiles like her face is trying to break in half, despite the tears raining down anew. "Tsubasa-chan!" We're hugging again, crying again, holding each other so tight it almost hurts, but that doesn't matter, because we're together again.

And this time, I'll make sure we're never torn apart.

.o0O0o.

Author's Notes:

And there it is, a happy ending.

Knowing that Hikaru had died, and the series was over, was one of the most upsetting endings to an anime that I'd ever seen. I can understand doing it that way, and even see the opportunities for later growth because of this sort of loss, but I still didn't like it. So I sought a way to set things right, to get the ending I would have preferred. I won't claim to be a professional scholar of Shinto Buddhism, the religion of Japan, but I have learned enough from the general Mythology course I took in college to make a good-faith gesture towards correctness. The mention of other faiths was something I felt compelled to add, and should not be taken as important.

It's tempting--oh so very tempting--to leave it here, and call it done. But much as I felt compelled to write the first part of this, so do I feel compelled to write a bit more. This is the logical stopping point: from here, the reader can easily imagine what would come next. But as long as I'm imagining what could come to pass, I might as well write it down, eh? I feel very privileged as well, because the first review for this story pointed out that My Missing Half is the first Figure 17 fanfic to ever be posted to FFnet. It is likely to be the only 'first' I'm going to get around here, so I'm proud to wear that award. Now, I only hope more people will read it.

As of the initial posting, I've gotten a review. I expect that number will grow a bit as time passes, since anyone looking for Figure 17 will have sharply limited choices. Since I'm at work, I don't have access to my regular mail, and thus can't check to see if there's been anything else. I've decided to allow anonymous reviews for a while, to see if that does anything, but I would like to thank Magma-Dragoon for the thoughtful review. I agree that it is an odd coincidence, and I was surprised when I found no other fics here, given that the series aired on TechTV back when I was in college. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a trickle of fics in this category. Originally, I was going to post the first bit, more of a prologue than anything, and then this piece, and be done. But as stated above, I feel compelled to write more. I'm not sure what the result will be, since I can see myself writing about the year without Hikaru, and writing about what happens after she comes back, depending on whether I'm looking at this with darker or lighter moods.

For now, I'm going to go with the option of pressing forward. How far that goes, I have no way of knowing.

But it's sure to be quite a ride, and I hope my readers will enjoy it along with me.

-Natimus Prime, Author


	3. The Reunion

The Reunion 

We've been sitting that way, holding onto each other for dear life, for what seems like hours, but was really only a few minutes. Suddenly, I feel a shiver go through Hikaru. It occurs to me that the only reason she isn't sitting directly on the snow is the pine branches I put down earlier. Otherwise, the only clothes on her are the mittens I left at the tree a year ago. Why those and nothing else can wait for another time.

"Oh no! You must be freezing, Hikaru-chan!" I pull away, and she wraps her arms around herself. Quickly I pull off the backpack I brought with me. It's got a few things for emergencies, including a two-way radio to call the ranch. I put that aside for now, and dig up the emergency blanket. It's the shiny foil kind, so it's very thin, but it's supposed to keep you warm, and it's huge. Hopefully it will last until we can get some help. I take off my scarf too, and wrap it around her head like a turban. It might look silly, but there's only one set of clothes between us, and I need to stay warm too.

Tenmaru woofs, and I get an idea from something I learned on a class trip a few months ago. "Wrap up with Tenmaru, he'll help keep you warm. I'll go back and get some help."

Hikaru-chan looks panicked. "You're going to leave me here?"

I frown. It was usually me who didn't want to be left alone, but Hikaru-chan has been missing for so long, I've gotten used to it. "I don't want to, but you can't walk through the snow with no shoes!" Then, I remember something else, and I smack myself in the head. I'm supposed to be smarter than this! "But if we were Figure 17..."

"Tsubasa-chan, that's a great idea!" We take off our mittens, and I put both pairs in my pockets. Then, we clasp hands.

The feeling of becoming a Figure is almost indescribable. It's like you're burning, but it doesn't hurt, and every part of you feels stronger, faster, better. But the best part of becoming a Figure is the voice. It starts in the back of your mind, just a little tingle, and then the two are connected. I guess it might be like what a baby feels in the womb, but I can't remember what that's like. Then, after what seems like an eternity, you can see again. Our Figure is different from others, because normally the Figure isn't in charge, but with us, Hikaru-chan does all the moving, and I provide the strength of will that makes us so powerful. We don't feel the cold any more, and I can hear Hikaru-chan's voice in my head as I look around the little bubble I seem to be floating inside.

"Are we still livening in the house?" she asks.

"Only for the weekend, Otousan moved back to Tokyo, remember?" I smile. Of course she doesn't, but she ought to remember we were planning that.

"Oh yeah! How is that going for him?"

"I've never seen him so happy. He's even got apprentices now, and he's been asking if I want to learn."

"Do you?"

"I don't know. It was too easy to let my mind wander, before, and I always came back to you. Now, I don't think it'll matter so much."

"What about school? Did you get to see Tomo-chan again?"

"No, the shop's in a different part of Tokyo, so it's a new school. My new classmates are kind of stuck up, but now that you're here it won't matter any more."

I can feel her frowning, even though it's just a mental connection now. "Tsubasa-chan, I thought you got over that kind of shyness."

"It's not like that!" I protest. "The girls look down on me because Otousan can't afford to buy me the latest clothes, and the boys are just stupid. All they care about are their gadgets and toys, and they won't let me play with them because I'm a girl."

"So you don't have any friends at all?"

"No, there's a few girls who don't get all snotty with me. Reiko-chan is nice, but she's busy a lot of the time. Her dad works at a shrine downtown, and she's learning to be a Miko. She's helped me a lot when I was feeling down, and she doesn't pry for details."

Hikaru reaches down to fold up the blanket and put it in the pack. It looks much smaller now that I'm seeing it from a Figure's point of view. "Anyone else? We didn't exactly have a ton of friends here at first, but how long have you been there?"

"It's been one year to the day since you disappeared, Hikaru-chan." I can feel her surprise as I say those words.

"No wonder you looked different! I was really surprised, until I realize it was you."

I blink in confusion. "You don't look any different..." Wait, that's not right. "Yes, you do look different, but it's just that you still look exactly like me. I'm so used to looking in the mirror and seeing you look back, I didn't realize how much I'd grown up. But you grew up too, somehow."

She laughs. Hearing that sound makes me feel so happy, after going without it for so long. "Even DD and Orudina couldn't figure me out, so why shouldn't things be odd like that?" There is a pause, and now her voice is hesitant. "Did... Did they erase me?"

I'm not sure what to say at first.

"I mean, you remember me, right? But what about Otousan? Our friends?" She sounds scared now. Hikaru never gets scared! It's really unnerving.

"You, you'd already disappeared, so they thought it would be better if they erased you, and themselves. It's what they were supposed to do to me, too, but they asked if I wanted to remember, and I said yes." I sniffle a bit, and rub my nose. "I couldn't give you up, no matter how much less it would hurt to just forget it all."

"No one remembers..? At all?" She sounds like she's about to cry again.

That strikes a chord in me. "I remember you!" I yell. "I remember everything, and that should be enough! What would Otousan have done if he thought he'd lost one of his daughters? What about our friends? DD and Orudina thought you were gone, so they tried to spare everyone that pain. But I said no, and I had to bear it all alone, because no one would believe me if I said I missed my sister!"

"I-" Hikaru stops, then says softly, "I didn't think of that. Poor Otousan, he would have been so upset if he knew... And right after we'd just gotten everyone cheered up about Sho-kun, too..." She gasps. "What are we going to do? If no one remembers me, how can we explain you coming home with me?"

I shrug. "I don't know, and I don't care. What matters is that you're here, and we need to get you dressed. Now let's go!"

.o0O0o.

It's barely any trouble at all to get back to the ranch. As a Figure, we're like a superhero, fast and strong. A walk that took me half an hour could be over in just a minute or two, but Tenmaru wouldn't be able to keep up. So we take our time, walking in the tracks I made on the way to the tree. Thinking about that makes me wonder about how Hikaru came back, and why, but I dismiss the thought almost as soon as I think it. It doesn't matter now, and the important thing is that my shining light is back.

When we reach the edge of the woods, Hikaru stops. "It's daylight, how are we going to sneak back to the house?"

I've been thinking about that, too, but I'm not sure it'll be a great idea. "Otousan is probably still talking to everyone, so there shouldn't be too many people outside. Do you think you'll be all right walking back from here? I'd rather go back alone and get a spare pair of boots, but there aren't any."

The response is quick. "I can walk. Let's just have a bath once we get there, okay?"

I giggle. "I'll wash your back if you wash mine!"

"Deal!"

There is an odd sucking sensation, except it's in the back of my mind, and then there are two of me. I giggle again. "You're still naked, Hikaru-chan!"

She scowls at me, then takes the scarf I gave her before and wraps it around her hips. It's not much, but it's a start. "Stop laughing and get that blanket, it's freezing out here!"

I do one better, and take off my coat. "Wear this instead, it's not as flashy." She puts it on, and I say, "Now I'm going to run ahead, then you follow a little ways behind. If we get seen together, it'd be suspicious, but separate it's not a big deal."

"I'll go first," she counters. "You take your time, run around a bit. They'll think you're chasing Tenmaru." The dog in question woofs quietly, and Hikaru is off, running as fast as she can over the well-packed snow path that leads to the house. I wait for her to get past the windows before I run off toward the barn, Tenmaru at my side. I swoop around a few more buildings before dashing to the front door. I quickly take off my boots, and follow the wet footprints to the bathroom.

Hikaru is already there, drying her feet with a hairdryer. "The warm helps more," she says when I look at her. I shrug, and start to peel off my own clothes. They're soaked with sweat from my running, and I realize I need this bath almost as much as she does. The tub is still filling, but it wont be long now. As I'm about to take off my shirt, I remember something else.

"I'm going to go put a note downstairs. I don't want Otousan to worry." Hikaru nods, and concentrates on drying her feet. I leave, sans pants and socks, and head down to the main room. There's a pad of paper on the table, and a pen, so I quickly scribble off a note.

Otousan-  
Stepped in a frozen puddle while hiking and got wet, taking a bath to warm up.  
-Tsubasa

Then, I go back up and get a towel, and wipe up the rest of the snow from the floors. Best to handle that now, before it stains. Returning to the bathroom, the water is almost done. Hikaru holds up some soap and a washcloth, grinning. "I haven't had a bath in a year, so I really need one, huh?" I giggle, something I haven't done much the past year, and get the rest of my clothes off. It's really nice to have someone to scrub my back for me again.

.o0O0o.

Later, we're both dry and wrapped in fluffy towels, looking in my bag. I have two more sets of clothes besides the one I wore this morning, but one set is the things I wore yesterday. I decide that it won't hurt to wear those another day since all I did was sit, so I put those on while Hikaru puts on the clean ones. In one of the side pockets is a hair tie, which must have been left from when we moved back to Tokyo. Soon, we're not perfect mirror images anymore, but there's still a lot to do, as Hikaru reminds me.

"What should we tell Otousan?" she asks. "We don't have DD to brainwash him into thinking I'm his other daughter, this time."

I frown. "Do you remember if we checked to see whether we had the same blood types?"

Hikaru giggles. "DD said that any medical technique Earth could think of would say I was your identical twin."

"Well, that's one thing helping us. Why not tell the truth?"

"You think he'd believe it?"

Probably not. "Maybe you're the spirit of the sister I should have had if 'Kaasan hadn't died, and the kami used me to make you?"

"Wouldn't explain why we're so attached to each other, but it's more believable than the truth." She frowns. "No matter what we say, it's going to raise questions. You're not sure where I came from, but you found me in the forest, and you don't want me to go, because you've always wanted a twin?"

"That's pretty much what happened anyway, so yeah, that should work. As long as we don't contradict each other, we'll be fine." I feel confident now. We're together, and there's nothing that can stop us. I've missed this feeling, drawing strength from my Hikaru-chan. If they try to take her from me, I'll just have to run away. I love Otousan, but Hikaru-chan is everything to me, and I won't give her up now that I've got her back. No one could stop us anyway, if we became Figure 17. I smile to myself. I sound a lot like her, with that sort of attitude. Meeting Hikaru-chan was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I won't let anyone take that feeling away again. No matter what.

There is a noise from downstairs. Otousan! He must be reading the note! Oh no, what if this doesn't work? What if he freaks out? What if- No, this has to work. Otousan is a nice person, he'll understand. He has to! Oh, he's coming up the stairs now. I stand, and open up the door. Hikaru-chan is right behind me, just out of sight. I can feel her trembling, but she has a good reason to worry. This time, I'll be the strong one. That's one of the most important things I learned from my sister, that I can be strong when I need to be. I take a deep breath. Otousan is just now coming around the corner.

"Otousan, could you go downstairs and wait? I-I've got something really amazing to tell you."

He raises one eyebrow, and asks, "Why can't you tell me here?"

I scramble for an answer, and come up with something I saw on TV once. "Because I'm worried you'll fall down, it's that amazing!"

He chuckles at me in his deep voice, but nods. "Okay, okay! I'll wait downstairs for your 'amazing' news." He turns and leaves.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and Hikaru does the same behind me. It tickles my neck, and I have to struggle not to shiver. I reach back and take her hand. "Don't worry, Hikaru-chan. We used to beat up ugly Maguars all the time, this can't be any worse." She smiles at my joke, and says, "Shall we then?"

.o0O0o.

I pause at the bottom of the stairs. Otousan is sitting at the kitchen table, with some papers, but he hasn't looked up at me yet. I don't want to let go of Hikaru-chan, but we can't just both walk into the room. I settle for stopping just around the corner, so I can be seen but Hikaru is still out of sight. It's now or never, and I can't bear the thought of having to hide my other half from the rest of the world. I take another deep breath, and calm myself. Reiko-chan-my friend from school-taught me a little about meditation, and I find my center, pushing all other thoughts away. Then, opening my eyes, I call out. "Otousan?"

He turns, and sees me on the stairs. "So, what's this amazing news, Tsubasa-chan?"

I swallow past the lump in my throat, and suddenly think of the perfect line. "You remember when I asked you about the name Hikaru, and you said it was the other choice for my name?" He nods, obviously confused now. "Well, I met someone while I was hiking in the forest. She's really afraid right now, so promise me you won't freak out or anything." Before he can reply, I hear a loud, "Hey! I am NOT afraid!" from behind.

"Tsubasa-chan? Is there someone else with you?" Otousan asks, looking concerned.

I take a step down, pulling Hikaru partway into view. "Otousan, I'd like you to meet Hikaru-chan." I take another step, and she is fully in the light. I look back to her, and she manages a timid smile.

"Hajimemashite." Nice to meet you, she greets, bowing slightly. "Watashi wa Hikaru desu." My name is Hikaru.

Otousan doesn't say a word, but I can see the shock on his face. I tug gently on Hikaru's hand, and the two of us walk down to stand near Otousan. The first question he asks is simple. "Who are you?" We both giggle.

"She just introduced herself, Otousan! How did you forget so fast?" I'm laughing as I say it, but Otousan looks confused, and a little frightened. I smile at him, and say, "Don't worry, Otousan. Hikaru-chan is the piece of me I left behind in Hokkaido, and now I've found her again." I don't know why I said it that way, but it sounded right, and it's the truth. Hikaru gives my hand a squeeze, and bows again, deeply.

"I went away for a while, and everyone forgot I was ever here, but Tsubasa-chan brought me back." Hikaru seems to have caught on to my idea. "I-I was worried when Tsubasa-chan told me no one remembered me, but I missed you, Otousan."

That seems to have gotten his attention. "But, Tsubasa wasn't a twin..."

I've gotten pretty poetic when it comes to my Hikaru-chan, after all the haiku I put together while I was moping, so I supply the answer. "Hikaru-chan is the Shining Light to my Soaring Wings. The heart of my heart, the other half of my soul, the mirror of my form. My Sister, my Twin, my Most Precious Person." I look into her eyes, the unconditional love reflected between us. "My Everything."

Otousan looks concerned. "But where did she come from? How did you find her?"

"We don't know," we both say, and giggle. I add, "One day, not long after we moved to Hokkaido, she was just here. We were best friends, sisters in every way that counted."

"But why wasn't she here before? I think I would remember my daughter having a sister."

"One year ago today, Hikaru-chan disappeared. Nobody remembered her, and everything was gone: her bed, her shoes, all of it! We shared clothes, so those were here, but the only other thing left was-"

"Mittens!" he interrupts. "You said you traded mittens with a girl from school, and that was why yours were different colors. But it was her!"

I nod. "It was all I had left of her. So I kept one of her mittens, and left one of mine behind, by a tree out in the woods. I knew nobody would believe me if I talked about Hikaru-chan, but I missed her so much..."

"And that's why you wanted to come this time, but not before. Because today was the anniversary." Maybe we won't have to explain anymore than that, because Otousan seems to be handling that on his own. "And you don't know where she came from?"

Hikaru answers this time. "The only things I can remember from before I met Tsubasa-chan are her memories of herself. It's like we were the same person until that moment." That's the truth, more or less. We never did figure out how she made herself look like me, and when we became a Figure the first time, I was too frightened to notice anything.

Otousan is rubbing his head. Poor Otousan, it must be really hard for him. "So, you met in the forest, but you aren't sure where you came from. Why didn't I ask you about all this before? And why wouldn't anyone remember you?"

"At first, we tried to hide Hikaru-chan," I answer. "But after a little while, you found her, and you didn't think anything was different. I was really confused, but you brought Hikaru-chan to meet everyone on the ranch, and you said she was my twin who had been staying with a cousin of yours, because you weren't sure you could take care of both of us. After that, none of us ever really thought about it."

"As for nobody remembering me, I don't know," Hikaru adds. "I can remember being really dizzy and sick for a while before I apparently disappeared, but I don't remember anything between the day we were out hiking and waking up in the snow a little while ago. I only know it's been a year because Tsubasa-chan looks different."

"No records, no photos, nothing at all?"

I shake my head. "I looked, when I realized she was gone. Even her homework was gone, and her files at school. Everything she'd put in the daily log was signed with my name. I knew I couldn't say anything, because the only proof I had was her mittens, and everyone would think I was crazy."

Otousan is frowning again, but he looks less upset and more concerned. He puts his hands down on the table with a little bang, and Tsubasa-chan flinches at the noise. He locks his gaze with mine, and I shiver a little at the intensity. "Tsubasa-chan, you trust this girl?" he asks me. What a silly question! "I trust Hikaru-chan with my life and my heart, Otousan." He nods, and turns to Hikaru. I can see that she is afraid, but only because we're so much the same. Otherwise, she is the picture of confidence. "Hikaru-san," he asks, using the more polite, distant honorific, "You are not here to harm my daughter, or my family?"

Hikaru looks slightly offended. "I'd rather slit my own throat." Whoa, that was a bit more than was necessary, Hikaru-chan! Even Otousan looks a bit pale from that, but Hikaru-chan isn't done. "After Sho-kun died, Tsubasa-chan and I had a fight. When she got mad at me and told me I wasn't really her sister, it hurt so much I wanted to disappear. I would have done anything to make her happy again, even if it meant the end of me." Some of her old courage is back in her voice and her posture as she stares right back at Otousan, and says, "I'd fight Shinigami himself for Tsubasa-chan, if she needed me." Claiming she'd fight death itself for me... Kami-sama, she means it too! I can see it in her eyes.

Otousan must see it too, because he nods, and says, "It might take some getting used to, but I'm happy to have another girl to call my daughter." I'm so happy I could cry! I'm going to have my Hikaru-chan back, and Otousan is going to help! This is the second-best day of my life!

The best day, of course, was when I first met Hikaru-chan.

.o0O0o.

Otousan tells us not to leave the house, while he thinks of what he's going to say to Shin-ojisan. He also says that we're going to have to take Hikaru-chan to a hospital when we get back to Tokyo, and work on getting her identity established. If we can prove that Hikaru-chan is my twin, maybe we can convince people that the paperwork for her was lost, and we didn't know she existed until we found her in Hokkaido. At least, that seems to be Otousan's plan: Okaasan actually had twins, but there was a mix-up at the hospital and Hikaru-chan got misplaced. If Hikaru-chan's right, no one will be able to argue with that, even though it's a lie. I don't really care, Otousan is an adult, and he can deal with the other adults. Right now, I've got so much to tell Hikaru-chan about Tokyo, and the store, and Reiko-chan, and all the things she missed out on! Why would I need to leave the house just to see people who have mostly forgotten about me anyway? I've gotten a couple letters from my old classmates, but they obviously weren't really interested in writing them, they just felt obligated.

Hikaru-chan is more important.

I start off with our new house. The bakery takes up the entire first floor, with tables for the customers to sit and enjoy their food. We sell cheeses and jams too, that get shipped to us from the Ibaraki ranch. Those always sell out quickly, but they're difficult to ship from Hokkaido to Tokyo, so we don't get as much of them as we'd like. Otousan put in a soda machine two months ago, and it's already paid for itself. So many people come in and buy a snack or dessert, and want something to drink with it, I'm surprised we didn't think to get something like it before. The smells are amazing, too. Otousan spends time every night experimenting with variations in the recipes, or new shapes for the bread, and the other bakers and I end up testing most of his inventions. Some of them are just plain awful, but sometimes he comes up with a great idea. My favorite is called the 'burger-bun', it's a hamburger inside a fried bread roll. It's really hard to get them to bake exactly right, though, so Otousan never put that one in the store. "It's easier to just make a roll and cut it open," he said when the third batch in a row turned out badly, and I think he's right.

The apartment above the bakery has a main room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, but no kitchen. When we cook dinner, we use one of the smaller stoves in the bakery downstairs, or a hotplate on the table in the apartment if the shop is busy. The other people who work in the shop are nice, but I try to stay out of the way. We have two shifts of workers, one that comes in really early to finish the morning baking before the salarymen come in to buy a quick breakfast, and another one that comes in for the afternoon, to make things for people going home after work or staying out late to do things. Our pastries are really popular with older girls, and they like to sit and talk at our tables. Sometimes you see couples on dates, but we're not really a romantic sort of place.

I'm learning how to run the register, and I help out during the evening rush by carrying baskets from the bakery to the front of the shop. Hikaru-chan thinks that the two of us should get little uniforms and be waitresses, but I tell her we'd never keep up. As busy as the shop here on Ibaraki ranch gets, our shop in Tokyo can get twice as bad. Hikaru-chan thinks uniforms would still be fun, but I can't help but think it would just attract perverts. Maybe we'll try it.

Hikaru-chan asks me about school, since she remembers my memories of living in Tokyo, and one part of the city is a lot like any other. My new school is a brand-new building that just opened two years ago, when termites got into the old wooden building. Our shop is in a more upscale neighborhood, so a lot of the kids come from pretty wealthy families. The school has all kinds of fancy technology in it, because the school board wanted to try and use it as a test before they spend a lot of money upgrading other schools. All the classrooms have a computer and a projector for the teacher to use, and the board the projector shines on reacts to touch, so you can write on the projection like a chalkboard. The library has a bunch of computers in it, and we use them to look for books instead of looking through a bunch of cards. The teachers expect us to type up any papers we write, so I spent a lot of time in the library until Otousan got us a computer. We had classes on how to type better, but Hikaru-chan says she can probably handle that, since she used DD's computers all the time when she was helping him. I hope she's right, because I still have trouble with it sometimes. I usually write my assignments out by hand, then type them into the computer after I've finished. The school is trying to save paper too, so we hand in our assignments on disks instead of printing them. It's a good thing, too, because we don't have a printer at home, and I'd have to get to school extra early to print out my assignments.

Hikaru-chan asks about my classmates, and I have to sigh. There's only a couple of girls who aren't rich snobs, and one of them is rich, but nice. Reiko-chan is my best friend, and her family doesn't have a lot of money, but that's because they're priests at the local Shinto temple. I already told Hikaru-chan that Reiko-chan is training to be a Miko-san, but we still have a lot of fun together when she isn't busy with her duties as a Miko and I'm not working in the shop. Reiko-chan likes to draw and paint, so we go to the nearby park and draw things together, or we draw things in the temple if nothing really important is happening. The temple is up on a tall hill, so you have to climb a lot of steps to get there, but Reiko showed me an elevator they have hidden in one of the buildings, for when something heavy gets delivered, or someone in a wheelchair comes to the shrine, or when they get groceries. We aren't allowed to play in it, of course, but it's neat to know something nobody else knows.

Reiko-chan's family have been priests going back a long time. She told me once that her family knows a lot of spirit magic, mostly things to make the charms and seals work right, and part of her training is getting ready to use that magic. Sometimes, she'll point toward something, and say that there's a spirit there, even though I can't see it. Other times she'll be able to tell when someone is unhappy, or sick, just by looking at them. She says she's reading their auras. I wasn't sure I believed her before, but after what happened with Hikaru-chan, I'm not as skeptical. If there's anyone I would be willing to trust with the truth, it's Reiko-chan. It's part of her duty as a Miko not to talk about secrets.

"But Tsubasa-chan, we can't tell people about the aliens, and that I'm not really human!" Hikaru-chan objects.

"If she's not just making things up about seeing spirits and reading auras, she'll know anyway. If we don't tell them the truth, the priests might try to seal you up like a demon or something. And they might be able to do it, too." That would be a disaster!

"Oh, all right, but only if someone figures it out on their own," Hikaru-chan says. "We're supposed to keep it a secret."

"Why are you so nervous, anyway? You were always the brave one, Hikaru-chan, never afraid of anything." Teasing her was always really tough before, but maybe I'll get through now.

Hikaru blushes angrily. "Being dead isn't the best way to build confidence," she mutters.

I feel horrible. I never thought of it that way! I was too excited to have her back to even think about how she must feel. After all, I've had a year to distance myself, even if I never really got over it. "Gomen ne, Hikaru-chan. It must be really hard for you." I pull her into a hug.

I can feel Hikaru smile. "Not as hard as it was for you. I just went to sleep for a while, you're the one who had to suffer for a whole year."

I give my twin a squeeze. "But that's all in the past now. I might have been sad before, but I have you back. And when one of us starts moping, the other one can cheer her up, right?"

We stay that way for a while, just enjoying being together, reveling in the knowledge that we could hold each other again. An idle thought flits through my mind, wondering what will happen when this sort of thing becomes boring, routine, and I squash it ruthlessly. There's time enough to think about that when it happens. Right now, in this moment, the only thing I can see in the future is my Shining Light smiling at me, and knowing that what we share is more precious than anything else in the world. Tomorrow and all its worries can wait its turn.

Today, nothing can go wrong.

Today, I have my Heart back.

.o0O0o.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter done, though it took me a while to get it potable. I hope no one minded the delay.

After thinking about where to go with Hikaru's reappearance, I came upon a dilemma: hide, or reveal? If I tried to keep Hikaru hidden, things would be very difficult for Tsubasa, not to mention I could use it as a plot device, but then they wouldn't be able to go out in public together at all, and that takes away a lot of options for writing. I thought maybe I could hide her for just a little while, but how would Tsubasa smuggle her back to Tokyo? Which left the other choice, to reveal everything as soon as possible. I also remembered another semi-obscure series that had a similar problem: Seven of Seven, in which the main character is suddenly split into six copies--each with a distinct personality aspect of the original--plus her original self. The writer for that series had a similar dilemma, and when he was later approached to do the manga version of the series, he decided to use the chance to explore the option he had put aside for the anime. Perhaps someday, I'll do the same.

I've decided to take the Shinto thing and run with it for a while, and see where that takes me. One of my favorite parts about the writing of Figure 17 is that it's really just a slice-of-life drama, set to the backdrop of an alien invasion. If it weren't for that, Hikaru wouldn't exist and the series would just be about a shy girl with no living mother who moved to the country: in a word, boring. But the aliens didn't overshadow the daily lives of the characters any more than absolutely necessary, and the contrast and tension between the two types of plot was part of the original show's charm. I'm not sure I can do as good a job at that sort of writing, but I'm willing to give it a shot. This means I'm going to have to start using more Japanese terminology, since some things just don't translate well, but the bulk of my information will come from Wikipedia, so you all should be able to keep up.

Fortunately, the initial part of this chapter was written to be included in Chapter 2, so I'd already thought up something I could use, even if I didn't plan for it at the time. Not all spirits in the Shinto tradition are benevolent or neutral, after all. I'm not going to let this turn into a "magical girl monster-smashing" fest, but the only other use for a Figure would be fighting regular crime, and I just don't see that working for a story. For the most part, this is about two best friends going to school, dealing with normal problems, and very occasionally dealing with a rampaging Oni. Reiko's character, being sensitive to spirits thanks to her family's occupation, will play a role in this. I'm going to have to dig out my mythology books and do some studying.

You probably don't want to know what my other idea for a continuation plot was, but suffice it to say that it was a crossover that would have involved a lot of work (mostly research on my end) in meshing the two plots properly. Maybe I'll write up an omake one-shot for it sometime later.

A second reviewer has shown up, and I'm hoping word-of-mouth will net me more readers as time passes and more chapters go up. A series like Figure 17 deserves more recognition than it appears to have gotten. I only picked up the series myself because I recalled seeing an episode once on TV, and I had a gift card for the amount of the box set. Now I've ordered the manga, and am awaiting it eagerly.

SakuBloss: Thanks, I'm glad to hear you think I've done a good job. Like I said above, some series deserve better than they get here in the States. The fact that people are reading this makes me hope it'll spark something more in the future.

Magma-Dragoon: I'm not terribly surprised to hear that you shed a tear or two while reading, when I consider the fact that I was doing the same thing while writing it. As a male, let me just say that I am very fortunate to have a cubicle near the back wall where no one notices me as long as I'm quiet ;; I can only hope that I continue to meet your expectations: I have a disquieting feeling that I may have set the bar too high for myself, and future chapters might suffer for it. As to the intelligence of my writing, I have always felt that the only reason adults think children aren't intelligent or wise is because the child does not have the experience with sophisticated words to properly articulate their meaning. "I wanna go play outside" and "I would like to go outdoors to relax" both mean basically the same thing, but one sounds more grown up than the other, right? Since this is largely written from Tsubasa's internal perspective, I see no reason not to enhance her vocabulary a bit, at least in her own mind. That, and nobody goes through what those two survived and comes out as childish as before. I'm not sure who said it, but there is a saying that goes something like: "Intelligence comes from books, and is free to any who make the least effort. Wisdom comes from experience, and must be earned through blood, sweat, and tears. If one is really lucky, it will be mostly the second and not the first and third."

Any others who have read, but not commented: you are appreciated just the same. Those hits can't all be from the same two people, after all.

I have no ETA on the next chapter, as Friday and Saturday are usually busy days for me. We'll see what happens, eh? I won't give up on this without a fight, and I'll post a note if I decide to drop it for a while.


	4. The Arrival

The Arrival

Later that first afternoon, Otousan calls the two of us down to the kitchen. By the look on his face and the way he held his hands on the table, I can tell he'd done some serious thinking, and whatever he was going to say was really important. Looking both of us in the eyes, first Hikaru then myself, I can feel him measuring us, and when he nods I know he's found what he was looking for.

"I've decided," he says slowly, in that deep, contemplative voice people get when they're talking about something extremely grave, "what story we will use to explain Hikaru-chan." He used the affectionate honorific! That's a really good sign! "Luckily, your mother never went in for sonograms after the first one revealed that she might not survive giving birth, because she didn't want to be frightened out of having her child. After the fact, I always lamented that decision, because it might have shown a way to keep her healthy, but in this case it works to our advantage. There's no good way to prove she didn't have twins, nor would anyone have known about it.

"I passed out during the delivery, and your mother was under anesthesia, so neither of us knew she'd had twins. When I went to see Tsubasa-chan, they gave her to me and I left. Nobody mentioned we'd had twins, so I didn't ask for Hikaru. After a while, when no one came to claim her, they discovered that no one had even given her a name, so she was set up as a ward of the state. Because of the crowding, Hikaru was sent to a different part of Tokyo, and later to Hokkaido. Hikaru ran away from the orphanage shortly after getting moved, and was found by an old hermit woman who lives out it the hills. You two met while Tsubasa was hiking, and realized you must be twins. The old woman told Hikaru to go with Tsubasa, because she was very sick and wouldn't last much longer, and she wanted to die peacefully in the mountains she loved. So Hikaru has no records because she can't remember where the orphanage is, and the woman wore bandages around her face to hide her illness."

I nod. It's not very complicated, which makes it easy to remember, and it's vague enough no one will question too deeply. Discovering a long-lost twin you never knew you had sounds like a good reason for us to be so close to one another. But there's just one problem. "What about Shin-ojisan and the rest of the ranch? Won't they want to go help the old woman?"

Hikaru-chan screws up her face and gets tears in her eyes. "Obaachan said she didn't want help, she said that's why she left in the first place." I grin as she lets out a small sob. "She wanted to get by on nothing but her own strength, and now its run out."

I applaud her happily. "That was really convincing, Hikaru-chan! Just like the play we did last year."

Hikaru blushes, and says, "You were better, Tsubasa-chan. Sometimes, I forgot it was just a play!"

Otousan chuckles. "Also, we're going to have to get new papers for Hikaru-chan. If anyone says we should try and track down the orphanage, I'll just say they can go ahead and try, but I don't care what they find. For now, though, it's time for dinner. We're going to the main house so I can start getting our story set up, okay?"

We both nod, and I take Hikaru's hand. She seems really nervous, but I can understand why. This time, we've got to lie our way past the whole world, and we don't have DD's supercomputer to make the right stuff appear in the government files.

.o0O0o.

Surprisingly, the first thing out of Sakura-san's mouth upon meeting Hikaru-chan is, "I knew something funny was going on when I saw you running around this morning!" Hikaru and I both blush. After a stammered explanation that we were trying to sneak back so we wouldn't have everyone staring at us until we got a chance to talk to Otousan, she nods and settles back down. Hikaru gets a lot of sympathy hugs, but she just keeps saying she's glad she's finally back where she belongs. At one point, she mentions having dreams about me, and it strikes me that it might not be a bad idea to keep to that line of thought. The only other set of twins I ever met, back before we moved to Hokkaido, seemed like they were the same person in two bodies. Maybe some degree of mental link could be explained away by our connection? It would get past awkward questions if Hikaru or I slip up and reference something we shared.

We sit together, talking animatedly throughout dinner, swapping 'stories' about our respective pasts. Hikaru-chan has a good enough imagination to talk about life in the woods, while I relate some of our shared memories of Tokyo from before we met. Everyone else just smiles at us, seeing two girls getting to know each other for the first time and trying to share everything, when in reality we are just laying the foundations of our cover story.

Soon, it's time for us to go to bed again, and neither of us minds that we have to curl up on the same mattress. Hikaru-chan likes to sprawl out a lot, but I don't mind. A few times, I wake up in the night, panicked and worried that it was all a dream, but Hikaru-chan is right there, and I calm back down. By morning, I'm not really well rested, but I'm ready to go home. Otousan has borrowed the phone to make some calls to a doctor in Tokyo so Hikaru can get a full physical, and the legal counsel we use to handle some things around the shop. One of our customers tried to sue us when she burned her tongue on a sweet roll, but Otousan argued that he had warned her it was fresh from the oven and the filling would be very hot unless she let it cool first, so in the end it was her fault. The judge threw out the case, and that was that.

We have a short breakfast with the rest of the ranch, and I get several goodbye hugs and a lot of admonishments to come visit more often. Hikaru-chan gets a lot of condolences on the loss of her foster grandmother, and invitations to come back and visit any time. It isn't long before we're on the train again, and talking more about Tokyo. Hikaru-chan is really anxious to get to see the city for herself, and Otousan ends up promising to take us around to see some of the sights later, after Hikaru is officially 'back in the family.'

.o0O0o.

Almost the moment we get off the express train early that afternoon, we're boarding a bus headed for the small clinic Otousan and I visit when we're sick. Hikaru-chan is staring around at the sights, no doubt comparing them to my memories of Tokyo from before we met in Hokkaido. By the time we reach our stop, my twin has developed a permanent 'tourist stare' and I can't help giggling to myself. Inside, Otousan greets the receptionist, who tells us to move to the back, since we're expected and Michael-sensei isn't busy. Michael-sensei is a doctor from America, and he once told me that he used to be a medic for their Embassy. He met his wife, Chiharu-san, while he was here, and decided to stay and work in this clinic. He's a very nice, gentle person, and he also helped do the initial health inspection on Otousan's shop, which is how he became our physician.

When we reach the exam room, Hikaru-chan looks like she's finally realized where we are and what we're doing, and she looks really nervous. I take her hand in mine and smile, and she manages a tiny smile of her own in return. Otousan is explaining the situation to Sensei, who is nodding and looking at Hikaru-chan. When Otousan is done, Sensei tells Hikaru-chan that he'll need to take a little bit of blood, so they can do tests for diseases, and give her a full physical exam. Hikaru-chan pales at the second of those, and looks to me, then Otousan. Otousan laughs, and says he'll wait outside until the exam is done.

The blood work gets done quickly, while Hikaru-chan and I chat about nonsense so she doesn't look or think about the needle. When the two little vials are capped and sent off to the lab, Hikaru-chan fidgets her way through the physical exam. It's all the usual things: measurements, weight, breathing and pulse, reflexes, and ears, nose, eyes, and throat. Hikaru has some impressive reflexes, both passive and active, but we were surprised that she weights the same as me. Later, she told me that even though she mimicked a human body perfectly, the extra metal content in her cells should have made her much heavier. It wasn't something we'd ever bothered to check before her disappearance, so I just waved it off with "Nothing about you is normal or expected, why should this be different?"

We both got a laugh out of that.

Otousan gets called back in right after the exam is done, and Michael-sensei tells him that we'll need to wait for the rest of the blood work to be finished, but otherwise Hikaru-chan is one of the healthiest children he's ever examined. Then he asks to take a small sample of blood from me as well. As a favor, he's going to have both samples sent to a genetics testing lab where he knows some people. Normally they do paternity tests and such, but he thinks that comparing the two of us might help prove that we're twins. With a laugh, he says that some people might think we're clones instead, but most people will accept the logical answer. Hikaru and I manage to hide our nervousness at him guessing so close to the truth.

Now that I think about it, 'clone' is probably a pretty good description for Hikaru-chan.

He also suggests getting an appointment for Hikaru at a dentist for the next time I have to see one. He didn't see anything wrong with her teeth, but that isn't his specialty. Otousan thanks him for the advice, promises to make an appointment, and we leave with a fair-sized folder of paperwork. Otousan called his lawyer last night, and he has a free hour to meet with us coming up. The bus route doesn't take us near the office in time, and the subway doesn't have a line running in that direction at this time of day, so we're forced to walk. I don't really mind, I got used to hiking a lot when we lived in Hokkaido and I've been trying to keep doing it here in Tokyo. Hikaru-chan has twice my stamina easily, and she's too busy gawking to notice being tired. Otousan looks a bit worn, but I suspect he's putting up with it for my sake. It's not nearly as cold down here in Tokyo as it was up north, so we're dressed in lighter jackets than most of the people around us. I'm not sure Hikaru-chan can even feel the cold anyway, but she always bundled up for appearances sake before.

It's a long walk, almost half an hour, and by the end of it Otousan is pretty tired. We stroll into the lobby of a tall office building, one of the larger skyscrapers in this district, and Otousan smiles at the receptionist sitting behind the main desk. After a short conversation, and a phone call to check with the man in question, we're given visitor badges and told to go up to the twenty-second floor.

Tanaka Hiro-san greets us when we reach the floor. He's a junior member of the larger law firm, but he has his own office, and ushers us inside. Otousan shakes his hand, and smiles as he takes a seat in one of the comfy chairs nearest the desk. Hikaru-chan and I sit off to the side, further back. Otousan hands over the folder of papers, and at the bidding of Tanaka-san, relates our story to him again. Tanaka-san looks fascinated, and keeps glancing over at the two of us. When Otousan is finished--with all the embellishments and details, its half an hour to tell it all--the other man sits back in his chair, folds his hands, and looks over to me.

"Well, it's quite a story, almost unbelievable," he says. I swallow nervously, and I can feel Hikaru-chan's tension from our joined hands. "But given the physical evidence, I don't think anyone would disbelieve you. Unless you believe in aliens, or some sort of supernatural oddness, there's really no other explanation for two people looking so alike." I breathe a small sigh of relief, as does Hikaru-chan. After all, both of those are probably true, even if no one really believes it. "If the blood work comes back like you think it will, no one will argue with you at all. Until then, just make sure to bring both of them with you when you go to the Records Office. I'll do some digging in the orphanage records, but even assuming I can find something in the system, it likely won't matter. Let me make photocopies of all this to send out to the right people. I'll get the ball rolling on new identity papers from here, and give you a call when I'm ready to have you come finish signing off on it all."

Otousan nods, smiling again. I can't help but wonder what we'll do in the meantime. "What about registering Hikaru-chan for classes at school? Won't they want to see some records or something?" I don't think either of us could handle being apart for the entire school day. Even if we aren't put in the same class, at least we could see each other in the halls at lunch. Actually, missing a whole year of school might put a serious damper on Hikaru-chan's academics.

Tanaka-san nods, obviously taking my question seriously. He probably noticed my worry, and interpreted it as worry over my new sister's recent loss, not fear of her disappearing. "It would probably be best if you register her today. It isn't that late in the afternoon yet, and I'll call ahead and let them know to expect you. At your age, I doubt they'll ask too many questions. Just be sure to mention that Hikaru-san has not had any formal educating, but is well learned enough to hopefully test into the same grade as her sister. I'm sure they won't mind administering some placement testing today or tomorrow."

Otousan works out a few more trivial details, and we're on our way to the school. Otousan is still a bit winded from the other walk and all the talking he had to do, so we get on a bus again and head off to my primary school. The designers must have been pretty uninspired, or dead tied on choosing a name, because it's named 'Atago Elementary' after the nearby Atago Shrine. Then again, that's where Reiko-chan lives, so it's not all bad. The school building itself is on the outermost edge of the Shiba District, and closer to the more upscale apartment developments. The only reason I attend there instead of one of the less prestigious schools in Shiba is that it's less than two blocks from our shop/home. The rich kids have a really hard time with the fact that I'm near the top of my class, despite being 'not as good'. If they're so amazing, why are they in a big public school instead of one of the private academies in Abazu? It's barely five minutes away on the subway, if you know what lines to take.

Regardless, when we get off the bus I can see that school hasn't let out for the day yet. Otousan seems to have recovered a bit, and Hikaru is still bouncing about with her boundless energy. Maybe we should go and visit Reiko-chan once school is over. I bet Hikaru-chan would love to visit the tallest hill in Tokyo!

My plotting is interrupted by our entrance into the school building itself. Otousan makes his way to the office, the two of us trailing behind while I point out various things about the school. The new building is five floors tall so that it can be narrower and take up less space on the ground, which gives us room for our own pool and an athletic field in addition to the ridiculously large playground. First grade has smaller classes, and takes up the entire first floor. Second and Third grade share the second floor, Fourth grade is on the third floor, with Fifth and Sixth grade on the floors above those. The top two floors have science labs and other specialized areas in them, along with the computer labs and the school's reference library. Apparently, the school board didn't think we needed to have personal reading material close at hand, but the reference books filled with information that we can easily look up on the computers were somehow important. Adults are so weird.

Unlike some places, the central office of Atago Elementary is actually central in the building, up on the third floor and on the back side of the building near the middle. The teacher's lounge is right across from it, with some of the club rooms and activity areas flanking them. Supposedly, it's so that it's a shorter walk for the students on the fourth and fifth floors to get something from the office, but I can't help noticing that the view out the back windows, facing the Shrine, is one of the best in the school: high enough to see the entire grounds, but not so high you can't make out what's going on. And the only elevator in the school is right next to the principal's office.

The receptionist at the desk is a nice elderly woman I've spoken to on a few occasions. Her name is Asahina-san, according to the sign on her desk, but most of us students call her Obaachan when we're not talking to her. She seems to know the names of everyone at the school, so its no surprise she greets me with, "Back early from your trip, Shiina-chan?" Then, as Hikaru-chan steps out from behind Otousan to look around some more, I can see the old woman's mind lock up, an expression of surprise on her face. For a long moment, she doesn't say anything, until Hikaru-chan and I both giggle at each other. Otousan rolls his eyes, and steps forward. "Asahina-san, I need to register my other daughter for classes. There's some... special circumstances about her."

Asahina-san blinks rapidly, then recovers herself. "So I can see. I wasn't aware you had twins, Shiina-san?"

"Neither was I, until yesterday." Otousan's reply seems to have knocked her back off balance again. "Like I said, special circumstances. My barrister should have called you earlier to explain a bit?" His tone is questioning, and I wonder briefly if Tanaka-san forgot to call. That thought is dispelled when Asahina-san nods. "Oh yes, I recall now. It was all a bit confusing on the phone, but seeing the pair of them, it makes more sense. You found your long-lost daughter in Hokkaido?" Otousan nods, and Asahina-san continues. "I transferred the call to the Principal, Juuyo-kouchou. He will have to handle this. I'll let him know you've arrived."

Shortly, we're ushered into a separate office in the corner, where Juuyo-kouchou stands to greet Otousan. "Well, I see that Tanaka-san was telling the truth about your twin situation. Bit of bad luck, not knowing you had a second daughter out there, Shiina-san."

Otousan nods, taking a seat after Kouchou sits back down. "No one was more surprised than me, Juuyo-kouchou. Imagine coming back from a meeting to find out your daughter has found a stray, except it turns out to be a person! If they weren't so alike, I wouldn't have believed it either." He hands over the sheaf of papers in the folder, and Juuyo-kouchou flips through them. "You say you're already working to establish her identity?" Kouchou asks. At Otousan's nod, he puts down the pile and looks over at the two of us. "Well, given the circumstances, I see no reason to wait to enroll Shiina Hikaru-san. A few of the staff members are already done with their classes for the day, so I'll have one of them proctor her assessment test. This young, it's not quite so long and comprehensive as it would have to be in junior high. And Tsubasa-san's class has the only open seat in her year, so if all goes well, they should be in the same class. I would have preferred to do that anyway, I'm sure both of them will need the support of each other." I nod happily, smiling, while Hikaru-chan does the same. Being together is definitely best, especially for me. Kouchou adds, "I expect you to work hard to help get your twin caught up on her work if she is lacking, Tsubasa-san." I nod again. I don't really trust myself to say anything just yet.

"There is one more thing," he adds. "While everyone is getting used to the idea of two of Shiina-san, I would like the both of you to make an effort to make it easy for the teachers and students to tell you apart, and tell which one is which. I can see that Hikaru-san wears her hair up, but if you could, say, have one wear reds, oranges, and yellows, and the other wear greens, blues, and violets, it would be a big help to everyone. Just for the first few weeks," he adds as we both look at him as though he were insane, "until your teachers have learned the other differences in your personalities. They have enough students to confuse as it is, I'm afraid." He turns to Otousan with a slow shake of his head. "Just last week one of my staff came in and had confused one of her boys with another lad that looked nothing like him!"

Otousan laughs, and so do Hikaru and I. After all, it is pretty funny! Otousan fills out some paperwork, and Kouchou calls up one of the off-duty teachers to give Hikaru her test in one of the club rooms that's empty right now. I'm allowed to sit in the room, but not talk. The test is fairly long, and it's the end of the school day when Hikaru-chan finally finishes. Luckily, the entire test is one of those fill-in-the-bubble types, so it's easy to grade, except for one portion that tests handwriting. Hikaru's history was barely a pass, and her literature is awful, but she got a nearly perfect score on the other sections. Her handwriting is better than most typewriters, but she tells me after the test is over that she deliberately messed up some of the problems so she wouldn't stand out too much. After checking the scores, the teacher, one I haven't met before, says that the results are good enough to place in fifth-grade class, but she expects her to work to catch up on the subjects she didn't do well on. Not surprisingly, those are the two subjects I was worst at before I lost Hikaru-chan and threw myself into my class work to fill some of the empty hours. Lacking sufficient memories to draw on, and having missed nearly all of fifth grade, it's obvious she'd have trouble with the subjects that can't be done purely on logic.

I shake off that train of thought. It's a good thing I stated taking those subjects seriously, because now I can tutor Hikaru. Of course, being part-computer gives Hikaru an edge in math and science, and she's always been ahead of me there.

It'll be really nice to have her check my homework again.

.o0O0o.

Otousan finishes the paperwork to enroll Hikaru-chan a little while after the final bell rings to signal the end of classes. We walk out of the central office just in time to see a black-haired girl with brown eyes coming out of the teacher's lounge. Reiko-chan must have been on duty today, and was taking back the class logbook! She turns away without really seeing us, so I call out to her. "Reiko-chan! Are you done with your stuff?" She probably is if she took the book back, but it's just a way to grab her attention.

Amatsu Reiko's hair goes down to her waist, and she usually wears it loose unless she's doing duties at the Temple, so it swirls around her as she turns to face me. "Tsubasa-chan, welcome ba-" Oops, she spotted Hikaru-chan. This ought to be interesting. She's looking back and forth between us now, me smiling and Hikaru-chan looking more nervous, but Reiko's jaw is hanging wide open. For a moment, her mouth works as though she wants to say something, but no sound comes out. Finally, I turn to Hikaru-chan and stage whisper "I think we broke her, Hikaru-chan."

Hikaru-chan giggles, and Reiko snaps out of her confusion. "There's two of you!" she shouts. We both laugh at that, and even Otousan chuckles. I wipe a tear from my eye, I was laughing so hard, and straighten myself up. "I suppose I should introduce you two. Reiko-chan, I'd like you to meet my long lost twin sister, Hikaru-chan. I found her while I was out hiking this weekend." Hikaru-chan bows politely, and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Reiko-san. Tsubasa-chan has told me good things about you."

Reiko continues to stare for a moment longer, before she bows in reply. "It's nice to meet you too, Hikaru-san." Then she straightens up, and I turn to Otousan. He looks really tired, and it's been a pretty long day. "Otousan, can we go hang out with Reiko-chan for a while? We'll be back for the dinner rush." Otousan nods, and adds, "Make sure Hikaru-chan doesn't get separated from you, Tsubasa-chan." I nod, and Otousan walks down the hall to the stairs, while I grab Hikaru-chan's hand. The halls are empty now, and except for the teachers, no one else is here. I turn to Reiko-chan, and say, "You want to go sit at the Temple? I'd like to show Hikaru-chan around some today."

Reiko-chan still looks confused, but she nods. "Uh, sure! Let's go." It's a long walk to get to the steep stairs to the shrine, but almost the moment we cross the Torii gate onto the temple grounds, Reiko turns to stare at Hikaru-chan again.

"Um, I don't really want to pry, Tsubasa-chan..." she says slowly, not taking her eyes off Hikaru-chan.

I blink, and turn to look at Hikaru-chan. Does she really see something? "What's wrong, Reiko-chan?"

"There's no real easy way to put this, but..." Reiko-chan trails off again, now squinting at Hikaru-chan and moving side to side so she can look at Hikaru-chan from different directions.

"Reiko-chan, is this one of those Miko things?" I ask. "Because I can explain, probably."

Reiko doesn't take her eyes off Hikaru-chan as she replies to me. Her words stop me cold.

"Why does Hikaru-san glow like a kami?"

.o0O0o.

Author's Notes:

Kouchou: principal Sensei: a teacher, doctor, or other professional

Shiba District, Minato Ward: Shiba is a district in the Minato Special Ward of Tokyo. Tokyo has 23 'special wards,' and the Minato ward contains attractions like Tokyo Tower, several shopping districts, and is also the location of the Abazu ward, home to Takeuchi Naoko and the basis for the fictional setting of her Sailor Moon series. Check out 'Minato Ward, Tokyo' on Wikipedia for more information.

Atago Shrine: Atago shrine is famous for its ridiculous number of stairs, and for being the tallest hill/mountain in Tokyo. The shrine itself was constructed to protect the residents from fires, and it's formerly wide view (before the skyscrapers) provided an excellent lookout for fires in the rest of the city. As such, the main Shinto god worshipped here is the fire god Homusubi no Mikoto. Other gods worshipped are also Mizuhanome no Mikoto (a god of water), Ooyamazumi no Mikoto (a god of mountains) and Yamato Takeru no Mikoto (a god of military).

Part of the delay on this fic was due to research. One of my biggest pet peeves is when authors decide to do a crossover, or even just a regular fic, and completely destroy the geography of Japan. The biggest offenders are Ranma/Sailor Moon crossovers that assume Juuban and Nerima are nearby. The Nerima Ward is on the opposite end of Tokyo from the Minato Ward for crying out loud! So to avoid doing the same, I scoured Wikipedia for almost a week, picking out locations and discarding them until I found someplace that would work. Atago Shrine is a real Shinto shrine located in Shiba district, and while I can't read Japanese, Google translations will hopefully allow me to get enough information on it to work with. I couldn't find anything on elementary schools or even junior highs in the area, so I had to make that one up. And since I can't find a complete map of the entire Minato Ward in English, I'm going to have to guess on a few other things for now. As more information is uncovered, I may have to go back and make corrections to other chapters, so from this point on, all chapters are subject to change. I put a note up on my profile page when that happens.

The other part of the delay is because at the very beginning, I was throwing around ideas left and right trying to come up with a plausible excuse for Hikaru's presence. The anime got to skip that issue thanks to a silly plot device, but in the real world--such as it is in a fanfic--people can't just appear out of nowhere. I'm not sure we ever got an actual date for when Figure 17 was supposed to occur, but given the cell phone Hikaru carries, it's fairly recent. So it's likely that an electronic record might exist somewhere, but the paper trail could still be too difficult to track down. Assuming the blood work theory, (we never saw either of the twins get injured during the normal part of the series, so I'm not sure Hikaru even bleeds) that could be used to prove identity, but we still need a cover story. I have a list of thirty-some ideas that got thrown out as too implausible or too easily disproved, before I settled on this one. It's improbable, but not so unlikely as to raise a red flag. After the research was done, it took me four days to write everything that wasn't the first four paragraphs of this. The rest of the time was re-writing those first few sections.

I do enjoy writing this, and now we get to have some fun with the subplot! Yay! And now that I've got an area established, and I know vaguely what's nearby, I can do all sorts of fun things with both the dramatic over-plot and the evil-spirit fighting subplot. And when I was picking places, I pulled Atago Shrine off a list of shrines in Tokyo with full temple grounds. At the time, I didn't even realize this gave me an opportunity for a typical 'showdown at Tokyo Tower' scene. Now that I realized where I am, I feel kind of obligated, since it's somewhat of a tradition in anime to blow up the tower at least once, but I'll probably skip on that. At least since Minato Ward is popular with tourists and has a fair-sized gaijin presence, I shouldn't have any trouble finding places to use as settings. We'll just have to wait and see what develops.

I also managed to get my hands on the Figure 17 manga while writing this chapter, and it appears I may have made an error with regard to Tenmaru the dog. In the manga, it is made apparent that Tenmaru belongs to Tsubasa's family, not the ranch. I'm not going to retcon this, since having a dog living above a bakery can lead to all sorts of health-code violations. It works better if Tenmaru isn't living with the Twins, and I'm sticking strictly to the anime for this story.

I'm afraid my readers can expect a similar delay on the next chapter. My full-time job as a codemonkey is entering a critical production phase, so free time to type is going to be in flux for a while. 


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